Outside Groups Co-Wrote 47 State Laws

About four dozen state laws enacted between 2009 and 2018 were the result of “model” bills often from outside of Wisconsin and frequently backed by powerful business and ideological interests, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review found.

The Democracy Campaign compiled a list of the bills (table below) with information supplied by USA Today, which reported last month on the use of model bills in all 50 states that were written by corporations, industry groups and so-called think tanks.

Several of the Wisconsin bills, which include some omnibus state budget bills that contained parts of model legislation, were from a corporate bill mill called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) , which is based in Arlington, VA.

ALEC was created in the 1970s to unite powerful business interests with mostly GOP and conservative state legislators around the country. They meet to develop “model legislation” that state policymakers can tweak and introduce in their home states. The legislation developed by ALEC hits a range of issues, like taxes, privatizing government services and programs, health care, environmental deregulation, tort reform, guns, and voter ID.

Several current and former Wisconsin legislators, including GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, have been members of ALEC or attended ALEC conferences over the past several years, according to the Center for Media and Democracy.

Some of the Wisconsin laws that resemble ALEC’s model legislation include Voter ID, the Castle Doctrine, restricting public employee union rights, eliminating the prevailing wage, deregulating professional licensing requirements, and making it harder for state agencies to write and implement administrative rules and regulations.

Model Bills That Became Law in Wisconsin 2009 – 2018

Year	Bill #	Act #	Party Support	Description
2009	SB681	329	Bipartisan	Adopts the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children.
2009	SB365	166	Dem	Adopts the Uniform Unsworn Foreign Declarations Act.
2009	SB31	33	Bipartisan	Adopts the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act.
2009	SB517	339	Dem	Creates a new Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children effective when 35 states enact the compact.
2009	SB617	210	Bipartisan	Creates a privilege to refuse to disclose a confidential communication to a veteran mentor.
2011	AB5	9	GOP	Requires a super majority legislative vote to raise taxes.
2011	AB11	10	GOP	Restricts public employee collective bargaining
2011	AB40	32	GOP	2011-13 state budget (provisions on auto title loans, capital gains tax elimination, lift cap on virtual school enrollment).
2011	SB1*	2	GOP	Relaxes product and service liability.
2011	AB69*	94	GOP	Castle Doctrine.
2011	AB7*	23	GOP	Voter ID.
2011	SB2*	1	GOP	Health savings accounts.
2011	SB13*	22	GOP	Deregulates the telecommunications industry.
2011	AB8*	21	GOP	Restricts administrative rules by requiring economic impact statement.
2011	SB22*	93	GOP	Trespasser Responsibility Act.
2011	SB57*	38	GOP	Truth-in-Sentencing.
2011	SB93*	95	GOP	Concealed Carry.
2011	SB399*	285	GOP	Admissibility of hearsay evidence in court.
2013	SJR23*	Constitutional Amendment	GOP	Restricts gas tax and vehicle registration fees to transportation costs.
2013	SB576	212	Bipartisan	Creates new type of insurance license.
2013	SB384*	92	Bipartisan	Revises trust laws.
2013	AB446	200	Bipartisan	Training and use of drug Naloxone.
2013	SB223*	208	Bipartisan	Prohibitions on employer and school access to employee, student internet accounts.
2013	AB409	348	Bipartisan	Death investigations involving law enforcement.
2013	SB325*	352	Bipartisan	Revises description and schedules of controlled substances.
2013	SB534	360	Bipartisan	Regulation of mortgage brokers and bankers.
2013	AB350	52	Bipartisan	Exemptions from securities registration requirements.
2015	SB44*	1	GOP	Right-to-Work.
2015	AB427	115	GOP	Prescription and delivery of Naxolone
2015	SB179	56	GOP	Prohibits abortion when fetus may feel pain.
2015	AB143	16	Bipartisan	Regulation of Uber and Lyft.
2015	AB253	116	Bipartisan	Ratification of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact.
2015	AB129	94	Bipartisan	Regulates transfer of structured settlement payments.
2015	AB730*	302	GOP	Prohibits communities from regulating plastic bags and one-use containers.
2015	SB21*	55	GOP	2015-17 state budget (dropped prevailing wage for local governments).
2017	AB553*	248	GOP	Penalizes boycotts against Israel.
2017	SB417	135	Bipartisan	Ratification of the Enhance Nurse Licensure Compact.
2017	AB773*	235	GOP	Restricts class action lawsuit and statutes of limitations.
2017	AB655	345	Bipartisan	Regulates agreements between a person with disabilities and a supporter.
2017	SB274	192	Bipartisan	Regulates unclaimed life insurance and annuity benefits.
2017	SB61	211	GOP	Handling of property seized in a crime case.
2017	SB583	213	GOP	Modifies requirements for certain securities transactions to be exempt from registration.
2017	AB629	187	Bipartisan	Multi-state agreement on court procedures for adult guardianships.
2017	SB298	77	Bipartisan	Creates new business corporations called benefit corporations.
2017	SB15*	57	GOP	Restricts rule-making by state agencies.
2017	SB108*	81	GOP	Eliminates continuing education requirements, required working experience for barbers, cosmetologists.
2017	SB109*	82	GOP	Loosens licensing requirements for cosmetologist, manicurists, others.

Compiled by USA Today and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign (WDC). Bills marked with an asterisk were supplied by WDC. Bills without an asterisk were supplied by USA Today.